Apparatus for forming compressed steel ingots



(No Model.)

W. H. SINGER.

APPARATUS FOR FORMING COMPRESSED STEEL INGOTS.

Patented Oct. 9,1888.

mares NITE \VILLIAM H. SINGER, OF ALLEGHENY, PENNSYLVANIA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 390,810, dated October 9, 1888.

Application filed April 9, 1888. Serial Ne.270,085. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. SINGER, a resident of Allegheny, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Forming Compressed Steel In gets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to apparatus for compressing steel, and more especially to the apparatus employed in making steel ingots for the manufacture of sawplates. Practical experience has proven that where these sawplates are formed from the ordinary steel ingets the honey-comb, blow-holes, and other cavities or imperfections caused by the rapid setting or chilling of the steel at the walls of the mold, or the gases or air contained within the steel or carried into the mold while pouring, draw out into seams, the cavities being simply flattened and elongated, as no welding of the two surfaces takes place. In the finished plate these scams or imperfections are scattered through the plate, though imperceptible to the eye, and in spite of careful inspection at different periods in their manufacture it frequently occurs that they will open out only in the swaging or spreading of the teeth of the finished saw, or in the subsequent swaging or gumming of the saw, forming splits or seams and rendering the entire plate worthless, and entailing large loss not only in the cost of manufacture but in the reputation of the goods both to the steelmaker and the sawmaker. to expel from the molten steel while it is cooling all the gases which it may contain, and thus obtain a dense and homogeneous mass of steel, which will be free from blow-holes and other imperfections; and the object of my invention is to provide an apparatus in which this metal can be subjected to heavy and continuous pressure during the time it is congealing in the mold, thereby expelling all gases or air therefrom.

To these ends my invention consists ofa particular form of mold in which the metal can be subjected to pressure, and the gases expelled from the metal by the pressure can escape through the walls of the meld, as will be more fully hereinafter explained.

To avoid this trouble it is essential Like letters refer to like parts in each of the figures.

In constructing my improved apparatus a strong bed, a, is mounted on suitable foundations ever a pit, b, in the bottom of which is a pressure-cylinder, d, having a piston or plunger, d, therein. This plunger is attached to the movable pressing-frame e, the plunger depending from the cross head 6', which has secured thereto four upright rods, f. These have attached to their upper ends another cross'head, g, to which is secured the compressing-plunger which acts on the molten metal, as hereinafter explained. Thus by the admission of pressure in the cylinder (Z at any time the frame carrying the compressing plunger 9 can be raised or lowered to any after explained. This cylinder 0 and plunger 0 are employed to impart the compressing force to the metal, and hence they are made larger and stronger than the operating-cylinder (1 and piston d, which only have the weight of the frame carrying the compressing-plunger g to act on.

As it is more convenient to build up the mold and fill the same with metal when the mold is clear of the compressing apparatus,

the bed a is provided with ways a on its upper side, extending out on one or both sides of the apparatus, and on said ways rests a table or carriage, it, which slides to and fro. To operate this table, a pressurecylinder, i, is mounted on the most convenient side of frame a, and the piston-rod v3 of said cylinder connected to the table or carriage h. \Vheu this table is drawn in under the coinpressingframc, 1t rests on the top of the cylinder 0, so as to have a firm support under the heavy pressure thrown upon it during the compressing opcr ation.

The form of mold which I prefer to employ to hold the molten metal during compression is one that is composed of a series of rings or sect1ons,j, built up on the table h, and held together by bolts 7.7, passing through earsj on the top and bottom sections. To enable the rings forming the mold to be removed more easily after the compressed ingot is cooled, and to provide for the escape of the gases expelled from the molten steel, these rings or sections are of peculiar construction.

Close to the interior wall of each ring, on the top and bottom thereof, are formed the annular faces awhile beyond said faces 8 are the bevel or rabbet faces 8, and beyond said rabbet-faccs are the outer annular faces, 3". The rabbetfaces s and outer faces, 3 bear firmly upon the like faces of the adjoining rings, and thus support the rings forming the mold; but the lower rabbct-face, s, is not quite so long as the upper rabbet-face,and so a slight space,

Z, is left between the inner faces, 3 s, of the rings, this space being, however, too small to permit the entrance of sand, and simply acting as a vcntiuggroovc to carry off the gases from the sand. Formed on the rabbet-faces s and outer annular faces, 5', are the ventinggrooyes t, which permit the escape of the gases passing into the space between the inner faces, .9, a free venting of the gases from all parts of the mold being thus obtained without permitting the escape of the sand linin The bearing-laces are formed near the interior wall of the mold-rings, and the rings are made sufficiently thick to withstand the heavy pressure to which the metal is subjected, the tops and bottoms of the rings outside of said faces being cut away, as atto give a hold to the crow-bars employed in loosening and raising the rings before they arelifted off by the c ane. The particular construction of these rings is fully shown in Figs. 3 and t. k

In building up the mold an annular base block, at, which is provided on its upper side with faces similar to those heretofore dcscribed on the rings j ,is placed on the top of the table It, and a filling-block, an, of smaller diameter than the inner diameter of the block at, placed inside the latter. The bottom ring. j, having the earsj thereon, is then placed in the block at, and on this bottom ring is placed the necessary number of other rings to pro duce an ingot of the required length, the top and bottom ring being provided with cars 7',

so that the whole may be held together by the rods or bolts 7:. The interior of the mold is then lined with a body of sand, this being accomplished in the following manner: Vithin the mold is first placed the shect metal cylinder a, and between said cylinder and the inner walls of the ingot-mold is packed or tamped a layer or body of dry hard sand, as at p. The sand is thus confined in place by the cylinder and the inner surface of thesheet-metal lining a, forming the interior of the mold when ready for casting. The advantage of the use of the sheet-metal lining in addition to the fact that it prevents the cutting away of the sand bythc molten metal when the latter is poured into the mold, and prevents the fusing of the sand by the highly-heated metal, and the formation of an agglomerated layer on the exterior of the ignot, which would have to be subsequently re moved, is that as this sheet-metal lining becomes very highly heated by the molten metal, though when backed by the layer of sand it supports the molten metal, yet it is punctured by the gases under the exceedingly high pressure to which the metal is subjected, and therefore, while confining the metal, in no way intcrfereswith the free escape of the gases from the mold.

In employing the apparatus for compressing the operation is as follows: The frame a, carrying the compressing-plunger g, is raised by admitting pressure in the cylinder (1 until it is high enough to allow a free passage of the ignot-mold under the compressing-phinger, and the table It is then moved over the guideway a until it is free from the compressing frame. The mold is now built up on thctable and lined, as heretofore described, and the molten metal poured into the mold. After the mold is filled, the table 71, carrying the mold and its contents, is drawn back until it is dircctly under the plunger 9, a pressing-plate, 1', fitting neatly within the mold, having first been inserted in the mold on the top of the molten metal to protect the plunger 1/. The plunger is then gradually lowered by pcrmitting the escape of fluid from the cylinder (1 until the plunger rests on the pressing-plate. The exhaust-valve of the cylinder (2 is then fully opened, and pressure is admitted to the compressing-cylinder c, which forces the plunger down on the molten metal, subjecting it to great pressure, generally reaching from twelve to fourteen thousand pounds per square inch, and forcing the gases to the exterior to the ingot, where they escape through the sheetmetal. lining and porous sand packing, and between the rings j, through the space Z, and the passages or channels formed in the faces of the rings. This pressure is continued until the ignot is thoroughly set and hardened, all air and gases being thus expelled from the metal and a solid homogeneous ingot obtained. After the compressing operation is completed the table It can be moved out in front of the apparatus and the in got-mold taken apart and the ingot removed.

My improved apparatus gives an ingot which is entirely free from blow-holes, and one which has a dense and uniform structure, thus avoiding the source of all the subsequent dif- 5 fieulties in the manufacture of the saw-plate heretofore pointed out.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is 1. In apparatus for compressing ingots, a

10 mold composed of a series of rings, j,- each of which has the faces s, s, and s on the top and bottom surfaces thereof, the said faces 8 being inclined or beveled, and the bottom faces, 8, being shorter than the top faces, so forming 5 the space Z between the faces 3, and having the venting grooves tin the faces s and s substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In apparatus for compressing ingots, the combination, with a compressing apparatus, of an ingot-mold having a lining of sheet metal 20 on its interior and a packing of sand or like material between the sheet-metal lining and the body of the mold, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I, the said XVILLIAM z 5 H. SING-ER, have hereunto set my hand.

WILLIAM H. SINGER. \Vitnesses:

Rom. D. To'rrnu, I J. M Cooicu. 

